me, myself And i...A Look At Assam From The Bottom Up

Youth decides to set up his own business rather than work for giant firms
ROOPAK GOSWAMI Guwahati, May 11: Manav Jain, this year’s gold medallist at IIM Shillong, would rather be a “Ratan Tata than work for him”.
Though the country’s youngest IIM has shown a better placement record than in the previous year, with the average compensation package on campus being around 12.36 lakh per annum, Jain opted out of the whole interview procedure.
“I opted out of placements because I believed that I can serve myself better by getting into something of my own, rather than working for a corporate. I have been a topper throughout, be it in school, college or MBA, and have confidence in my capabilities. This is why I opted out of corporate placements,” said the 23-year-old who has entrepreneurship running in his blood.
“My inspiration has been my father. He always told me to become big myself rather than work for someone big. I would rather be Ratan Tata than work for him. This way, I can someday dream to be that big,” Jain told The Telegraph over phone from New Delhi.
Jain, who studied at Modern School, Delhi, and completed his graduation from Sri Ram College of Commerce, got the gold medal for his all-round performance at IIM Shillong. He will be working with his father for a year or so to understand business — the family runs Rakesh Papers Private Limited in Delhi which has a turnover of Rs 15 crore — and then look for further scope for expansion and growth.
Jain’s decision would surprise many in IIM Shillong since the institute has attracted better and bigger firms this year.
Nearly 16 new companies took part in the placement process, a mark of IIM Shillong’s growing stature.
There has been a great rush from the banking and financial sectors, which constituted 43 per cent of the offers on campus.
The range of profiles varied from investment banking, equity research, project advisory, consumer banking, wholesale banking, capital markets — the recruiters being Nomura Investments, Standard Chartered, HSBC, ICICI Bank, YES Bank, DE Shaw and SBI Capital.
“With the presence of first time recruiters like Procter and Gamble, which offered profiles across their product supply and customer business development functions, 27 per cent of the offers were made in the functional areas of marketing and operations. Other than Procter and Gamble in the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector, Godfrey Phillips India offered roles in marketing. From the Tata Group, companies like Titan and Tata Steel made offers in areas of marketing and supply chain,” the official said.
Jain, too, batted for the institute.
“IIM Shillong being a new institute is indeed a very good place to be in. It gives you the freedom to do a lot many things, which institutes with formalised systems do not offer. I got to learn a lot from this place,” he said.